Of Mice And Men - REWRITTEN
by The Needless Lobsters
Summary: She had everything planned so carefully. She knew she shouldn't have trusted him so easily, but something about him just made her fall deeper and harder. When Maura falls in love with the wrong guy, will Jane be there to save her from the things that lie ahead, or will their two worlds be ripped apart?
1. What's Past Is Past

"Coffee?" asked Maura as Jane walked through the door.

"_Please_." She wiped her eyes and planted herself at the kitchen island.

"Don't let your mother see you with a face like that," Maura spoke, nodding her head towards Jane as she slumped further down onto the counter.

"Is there something wrong with me?" Jane asked

Maura stopped in her tracks. "What?"

"Maura, is there something wrong with me?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because, this isn't the first time I've looked like this, is it? I know that you notice, and I know that my mother has also noticed… then again, it is almost impossible to keep secrets from her, but even still, I know you know there's something wrong… I just wish I knew what it was also."

"Jane, I can't just assume there is something wrong with you just because you've had a face like a wet weekend for the past fortnight."

"Can't you just guess?"

"But I'll get hives."

Jane rolled her eyes. "_Theorise_ then?" Maura placed the cup of coffee in front of Jane and slowly walked around to her side.

"Well, if I were to theorise… I would say that you're lovesick."

Jane scoffed, "that's ridiculous."

"Clearly not by the way you just reacted."

"_Wh_\- this is my normal reaction to nonsense."

"No, your normal reaction to nonsense is either 'nope, definitely not' or 'you've got to be kidding me'… or something along those lines. What you just did right then… that was denial." Maura pointed a finger at Jane.

"Don't point your finger at me… and I'm _not_ in denial."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Jane, it's okay to admit it. There's nothing wrong with missing him."

"But… surely I shouldn't be missing him this much, should I?"

"Like I said, you're lovesick."

"I thought lovesick was when someone had unrequited love for another…"

"It is... but it's also when there's an absence of someone you love."

"Well, that's ridiculous. I don't love Casey."

"You say you don't, but your eyes won't shut up."

"_Maura_…"

"Jane, just because you and I had something when we first met… something which we agreed never to tell anybody of by the way… doesn't mean that you still can be with him."

"But it does-"

"Jane, I love you, I do; but we agreed that as long as you and I are working together, nobody can ever know about what we did. Ever. Which is why you should be with Casey."

"What as a cover-up?"

"_No_. We didn't do anything wrong. But nothing can ever happen between us, you know that."

"Yeah…" Jane sighed.

"And you love him, don't you."

"Jane looked at Maura and nodded slightly. She took another sip of coffee from her cup only to be interrupted by her cell ringing.

"Rizzoli."

_Ring Ring_.

"Isles."

"We're on our way."

They both hung up the phones, as Jane downed the last remaining drops of coffee in her cup.

"Come on, I'll drive you."

"_Ooh_, okay. Can we stop for bagels?"

Jane looked at Maura, raising her eyebrows. It was her _"are you being serious"_ look, which Maura knew all too well. Jane sighed.

"_Fine_. But I'm getting coffee."

"You've _just_ had a cup."

"_You_ want to stop for _bagels_ on the way to a crime scene."

Maura rolled her eyes as they strolled out of her house, Jane closing the door behind her.


	2. Cold Hard Ground

_**DISCLAIMER:**_

_**I should probably mention that I have little existing knowledge of forensic science or anthropology etc. thus, please forgive me if any technical terms, or facts are incorrect within this. I am making this up from the top of my head, so who knows whether my facts are statistically right or whether I just plonked a random number in there somewhere (in most cases it will usually be the latter.) I have done some research for this, as I do for all of my stories that concern a highly technical topic, in which more information is needed on my behalf, but my knowledge is by no means extensive. **_

_**I thank you for your graciousness when reading this little header - it may not make a difference to some of you lovely readers, which I am grateful for, but if my facts and figures do touch a nerve, then please feel free to message me with whatever it is (and if you are indeed a forensic scientist/ME/anthropologist who spends their time reading fan-fictions (because you're the coolest people on earth) please, please, please feel free to message me, or leave a comment, with the more accurate facts and statistics, especially proven ones, and I will do my best to change them, according to your feedback (this also goes for the former as well). **_

_**Anyway, thank you for reading my little babble about this... Feel free to continue onto the story now... **_

_**Happy Reading! **_

_**\- Becks. **_

* * *

Jane's car grinded to a halt outside the crime scene. Maura looked at her, disapprovingly, as she always did when Jane drove too fast and slammed on the breaks. She should be used to it by now, after all, they had known each other for over six years. Jane's driving habits were more of her… _less annoying…_ traits.

They stumbled out of the car to a queasy Detective Frost, leaning over a dumpster. Jane smiled. She did love how the job didn't really agree with Barry. It was just one of the things that made him so great. Sometimes, she felt as though she really loved him. Never in a romantic way, but rather as another brother. She would do anything she had to, to make sure that she had his back. And she knew that he would do the same for her.

"You alright, Frost?" Jane asked, stifling her laughter. Frost threw up in the dumpster before turning to Jane. He nodded, before moving his head back, knowing he'd probably throw up again.

Jane nodded and walked around the corner to see Sergeant Korsak knelt over the body.

"Jane. Dr. Isles."

"Sergeant Korsak. Is this the body?"

"No, it's a dummy," replied Jane, sarcastically.

Maura glared at Jane before pulling on her gloves, and kneeling down to examine the corpse. It was almost as if you could see the cogs in Maura's head working away, like a well-oiled machine.

"You smell, nice… Got a date, Korsak?" asked Jane.

"No!" He scoffed, unconvincingly.

"Yes," replied Detective Frost as he returned from the dumpster, "her name's Marlene."

"Hey, how did you know about that?" Korsak asked.

"Well, Sergeant, you are working with two, very highly skilled, trained Detectives."

"He looked through your desk," replied Frankie as he approached the them.

Korsak turned to Frost in surprise.

"You looked through my desk?"

Before Frost could reply, Jane turned to Frankie, changing to the topic of conversation.

"Frankie, what are you doing here?" Jane asked.

"I'm training." He replied.

Jane eyes widened. She squealed before hugging her brother.

"Something going on?" asked Maura.

"Go on Frankie… tell em."

Frankie sighed, and smiled. "I got promoted to Detective."

"Oh my, that's great Frankie," replied Maura.

"Well done, man," answered Frost, "welcome to the homicide squad."

"Congrats. Let's just hope you have a strong stomach, Frankie, unlike Detective Breezy over here," replied Korsak. Frost shot a glare towards Korsak.

"Hmm," Maura mumbled, "that's odd."

"What's odd?" asked Jane

"He's frozen."

"Well yeah, he is dead, Maura."

"No, I mean he's _really_ frozen," Maura replied. She gestured for Jane and the other detectives to come and feel the body.

"Is that normal?" asked Frankie.

"Not usually."

Maura pulled out a liver probe from her ME bag, and carefully inserted it into the body.

"Thirty," Maura stated as she wiped the end of the liver probe with disinfectant wipes, placing it back in her bag.

"What's wrong with thirty?" Jane asked, assuming the look on Maura's face was what she thought it was.

Maura stood up, opposite Jane, Korsak, Frankie and Frost.

"After death, a person's body decays at a moderate rate, generally falling by one and a half degrees every hour, until it reaches either room or ambient temperature, depending on the environment. Considering that a regular individual's natural body heat is around thirty-seven degrees centigrade, while room temperature is generally twenty-four degrees, I would have expected someone in this state to have a body temperature that was more or less identical."

"So, if that's the case, why is his body temperature so high?" asked Jane.

"Well, freezing does delay the composition process but…"

"But what?"

Maura looked to Jane, her eyes telling.

"You've got to be kidding me," Jane replied.

"It's the only way to explain why he has such a high body temperature."

"What is it?" asked Detective Frost; both him and Korsak turning to look at them.

Maura sighed. "I think they're being frozen, _before_ they're being killed."


End file.
